


Pod Races

by phoenixianCrystallist



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Cute, Disney dolphins, Dolphins, Don't Try This At Home, Fluff, Multi, Prompt Fic, Swimming, Tumblr Prompt, or do I'm not your mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 17:41:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21792370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixianCrystallist/pseuds/phoenixianCrystallist
Summary: Sora, Riku, and Kairi meet a friendly pod of dolphins and proceed to lose every race against them.
Relationships: Kairi/Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	Pod Races

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I have never met a dolphin. Or an ocean, for that matter. Any discrepancies between these dolphins and real dolphins should be chalked up to Disney-esque shenanigans. Ditto on the ocean.
> 
> Did this prompt: otp-imagines-cult.tumblr.com/post/149705764894
> 
> "Imagine your OTP doing something with dolphins."

"Guys, I think I see a pod!"

Sora looked up from where he had been burying Kairi in the sand, and squinted against the glare of sun on the ocean. He could barely see Riku, standing knee-deep in the ocean surf. Riku had been hunting seashells to decorate Kairi's sandy mermaid tail with, but now he was facing the horizon, a couple of forgotten shells dangling in one hand. Out in the distance, against the glare, Sora could just make out the forms of dolphins playing.

"Oooh, how many?" Kairi asked, and Sora felt her hand on his shoulder as she carefully removed herself from the sand pile. Sora spared a moment to mourn his hard artistic work. He'd drawn in the scales and even managed to get nice, smooth, flowing fins to fan out from the end of it. But he helped Kairi to her feet, following up after her. She shaded her eyes and peered out to sea, twining her fingers with Sora's.

"I can't tell," Riku admitted as he turned and beckoned them closer, to which they responded at a run. "But they're coming this way."

Kairi's delighted gasp made Riku smile, and he reached back to hold Kairi's other hand. Sora grinned; it had taken way too long to get Riku to show simple physical affection! He still turned interesting shades of pink when kissed, for instance. But at least he was holding their hands now.

"Want to swim out to them?" Riku asked.

"You bet!" Kairi laughed, and dragged her boys further out into the ocean. All three of them were powerful, competent swimmers, and the ocean was calm today. They could get quite a ways out from the island without trouble. But, still, Sora dug in his heels and held them back.

"You know they don't always come in to shore," he admonished. "We should row out."

"Yeah, I guess," Kairi said with a pout.

"I'll row," Riku offered, but Sora snorted. "What?"

"You want to swim," Sora said, free hand on his hip, affecting a stern stance that neither of his partners believed for a second. "Don't deny it. It's fine, I'll row us out."

"Oooh, we could take turns!" Kairi suggested, bouncing a little in place with glee. "That way we can all swim with them!" Sora and Riku both laughed their agreements, and Sora and Kairi raced to the boats. Riku took his time, but when Sora looked back, he saw that Riku was smiling a quiet, fond smile. Naturally, Sora returned this with his usual boisterous grin, but Kairi was winning the race, so he returned his attention to running.

Kairi beat him to the boats, though, but only by a fraction of a second. Sora set about untying the mooring with Kairi's help, and by the time Riku had caught up with them, the boat was ready to go. True to his word, Sora made sure Kairi and Riku were settled before he launched the little boat, hopped in, and grabbed the oars.

Sora was careful to make sure land was still in sight, but the dolphin pod had come closer in the time it took him to row out. Not even a whole minute passed after Sora put the oars up, and the dolphins surrounded the tiny rowboat. Kairi leaned over and dangled her hand in the water, letting the dolphins come to her. One nuzzled her palm with its snout, and Kairi giggled.

"Go on," Riku urged, and Kairi wasted no time with diving into the water. The dolphins scattered for a second, but soon were back to investigating and playing. Riku watched Kairi swim with them for a moment, then nudged Sora with his foot. "You, too."

"You first," Sora insisted, nudging back.

"I'll wait."

"For what, Christmas?" Sora teased, but he didn't actually argue. He wanted to swim with the dolphins almost as badly as Kairi did. Riku didn't need to do any more urging, Sora just rolled out of the boat to land in the water with an enthusiastic splash. The dolphins scattered again, but Kairi swam up to Sora and wrapped her arms around his neck. She spun him around, giggling the entire time, then let him go and grinned at him.

"This is so much fun!" she said. She and Sora treaded water for a bit, waiting for the dolphins to return. Lucky for them, these were very friendly dolphins, and they trickled back in one-by-one. There was one dolphin that kept nudging up against Sora's hip, and actually let him pet it. Kairi raced a couple of adolescent dolphins, but she couldn't dive as deeply as they did and tended to lose.

Kairi was the first to exhaust herself, so she traded places with Riku. Somehow, and Sora didn't see because he was facing away, Riku slipped into the ocean without so much as a splash, and immediately the dolphins that had raced Kairi tried to entice him into another contest. Sora watched as his best-friend-now-boyfriend chased the two rowdy adolescents, speeding through the water with an ease only a native Islander could match. As much as Kairi loved to swim with them, she hadn't been raised near the ocean since birth. As such, the boys tended to out-swim her more often than not.

After more rounds than Sora had bothered to count, Riku surfaced next to him, shaking his long silver hair out of his eyes. He was breathing a little heavily, but nothing could hide the grin on his face.

"Trade," Riku panted. "I'm about done."

"A couple of dolphins too much for you?" Sora teased, and Riku splashed at him.

"Shut up. _You_ race them. They're sadists!"

Sora laughed, but was more than happy to guide Riku's hand to his dolphin's favorite place to be petted. Not only did this make "his" dolphin happy, but it allowed Sora to steal a quick kiss. For once, Riku returned it without a hint of self-consciousness. Probably because there were no people around to watch.

"Hey," Kairi called from the boat. "Where's my kiss?"

"Still on my lips," Sora teased with a grin. "I'll give it to you later. First, I have a race to win!"

He waited just long enough to see Kairi's indignant pout before he dove under the waves. Immediately, the two adolescents started swimming around him, showing him the route for their race before guiding him back to the surface. They waited patiently while he took a few gulping breaths before diving under. The dolphins took that as the sign that the race had started, and took off, leaving Sora behind and a trail of bubbles in their wake.

Like Kairi and Riku, Sora gave it his best shot, but he was no match for the dolphins in their natural habitat. He'd never been comparable to a dolphin, not even when he _was_ half-dolphin in Atlantica. With legs instead of fins, he was even less of a challenge. But the dolphins seemed to enjoy it, and Sora was stubborn. He kept racing far longer than he should have, and it took both Kairi and Riku to haul him into the boat, just as the sun started to dip into the ocean.

"I'll row back," Riku offered, his voice half concern and half smothered laughter. Sora weakly laughed his agreement, and laid back with his head in Kairi's lap as he tried to catch his breath.


End file.
